Redemption
by Blackheart Ravensoul
Summary: Wesker doesn't die in the vulcano. To escape a fate worse than death he attempts to walk the path to redemption, but can he truly change to save himself?
1. Chapter 1

Redemption

Chapter 1: In hell

WARNING! SPOILERS!

It hurt, this kind of pain was hard to imagine. The anger and desperation had dulled the pain before but now it was excruciating. It wasn't just around him now, no it had gotten inside as well, the red hot burning heat. The temperature hot enough to melt flesh in seconds, a human would not have survived being waist deep in it, no. But he wasn't human, however that only meant that his suffering would be inhuman. Buried under hot rocks, drowning in the burning juices of the earth with his flesh burning to a crisp and instantly healing itself, only to burn again. The pain too strong to bear as the hot liquid burned his insides pouring in through the wounds, through his lips as he struggled not to scream, in sheer agony.

He had died once and he thought he knew the pain already but this, this made him wish he was dead. His heart beat like it was about to punch a hole in his chest and jump out. Only on thought now in his mind " What if this will never end?". Fear of never being found by either a living being or the cold hand of Death, it no longer mattered. For the first time in his life tears found a way out of those reptilian eyes. Will he not be shown mercy and allowed to die, so he may be free from this living hell?

Mercy, a word so unfamiliar to him. He has never been one to show mercy for others. No, not even when he was still human. All that mater was his ambition, his goals. It was always about him, others were just tools, stepping stones in what he thought to be his personal stairway to godship. How wrong he was, the stairway he built for himself was one that led to hell. Now the flames of hate he himself lit were burning him alive, over and over again. This was the path he made for himself. Those who show no mercy, receive none.

He did not expect to make it out alive. There was no brilliant plan B, no escape route planned. His first and only plan should have been a success and he should be a god now. Not a god but rather a demon, an angel fallen from grace, burning in his own sins. All he wished for was death, it had to come, but how much longer?

The lava was rising, soon he will be unable to breath. Sinking deeper he prayed for the end. Red heat filling his lungs, with each breath they would burn and then heal. "Anything, I will do anything. Just get me out of here" he could only repeat that in his mind.

The pain intensified as it shook his whole body. He was on the brink of losing his sanity, thou many fought he lost years ago. No longer able to keep his eyes open for the heat was too intense he closed them in hopes of never having to open them again. Alas, another wave of pain hit his tormented body and his eyes shot open in reflects. He was certain he suffered great damage for opening his eyes under the hot lava for he could see something moving towards him. But through the pain he didn't see clearly. No doubt it was an illusion, a hallucination caused by the pain. He finally lost his sanity. Fear once again overwhelmed him. The radiant figure seemed human, but it was impossible, a human could not survive this deep in the lava.

The pain seemed to vanish, he was naked in the sea of white light. In front of him stood a hooded figure.

"Have you come to save me?"

The figure just laughed in a cold voice.

"Save you? Why should I ?You haven't done a single good thing in your entire life! You are not worth saving!"

"Please I will do anything! Save me!"

"I'm afraid I don't have that power.".

"Then why are you here, if not to save me?"

"I wanted to see the truth of what you really are for myself" The mysterious figure answered, it's voice was all too familiar to the man, but the shock prevented him from realizing it earlier.

"Who are you?"

"I think you already know" the figure took off the hood and the face under it was his own.

"Who are you" he spoke in disbelief

"I am what you could have been, had you taken the right path. You could have been a god. Sadly you chose to become a demon. And demons are not worth saving" the image vanished.

He was once again torn by searing pain. Unable to stop himself he screamed, hot juice of the planet running down his throat, choking him. It seemed he had lost consciousness for a second. Glancing down to see how deep he had sunken into the lava he saw a black abyss beneath him and something rising out of it, like hands reaching to drag him down to the very bowels of hell. It had gotten hotter, he wondered how much longer would this torture last. Until he reached the core of the planet , perhaps? Days, maybe a week. The thought made cut at his heart like a knife. Even the thought of having to endure another second of this torture was unbearable, but another day, another week. He wished he would just die right there and be done with it. His body was useless, too damaged to move, it could heal itself, but even that was becoming difficult. His flesh burning faster than it could recover.

"Please, make end. Just kill me, already" he begged, unsure if any godly force was listening." I can't go back and undo the things I've done, so just let me die, please" he felt pathetic, begging like this but now it was all he could do, even with the power he possessed he was helpless.

His body finally reached its limits, the regeneration stopped. Now he really was done for. Closing his eyes his lips curved into a smile as he thought about the end of his suffering as he sank into the abyss of what he could only describe as hell. Diving into the darkness he lost his consciousness.

The lava reached the tunnels that led to the surface it was flowing out in burning red waterfalls from the sides of the volcano. The rivers of fire stretched far and wide slowly cooling and hardening. As water and fire collided the torrents of a nearby river embraced the body of the man known as Albert Wesker. As the water cooled burnt flesh its current carried him away into the rising sun.


	2. Chapter 2

Redemption

Chapter 2: Oasis

Wesker slowly opened his eyes just to find they were covered with something. He raised his hand to remove it but pain shot through his body the moment he tried to move. This pain could mean only one thing- he was still alive. He could not believe it, even after he was blown to pieces and burned alive in the depths of the fiery hell, he was alive. Now all he needed to do was wait for his body to heal. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep; being awake made him more aware of the pain from all the injuries.

When he awoke again it was due to the bright light. Opening his eyes he found himself in an unfamiliar place. It was a small round house made of straws and wood. The light was pouring in through the holes in the walls that were supposed to be windows. To his surprise the pain was gone. How was he asleep? Not long enough for all of the burns to heal, that's for sure. Something didn't feel right. Getting out of bed he noticed somebody had dressed him, strange long robes didn't appeal to him, but it better than being naked in this strange place.

The outside of the house was not much to look at but the nature that surrounded the house was amazing. All kinds of plants and flowers surrounded a round pond. Butterflies of various colors flying all around the garden, tall palm trees casting a shade, humming birds gathering nectar, the sparkling gold colored fish in the pond. It was like a little paradise in the middle of nowhere. Just beyond the garden was a nothing but sand, hills of sand, burning hot in the morning sun.

Going back inside to his own surprise Wesker found a woman, a very strange woman. Her skin was dark but her hair was snow white. As she turned to face him he noticed the colors of her eyes were different: one was icy- blue, the other amber – yellow.

"Your awake" she spoke" good, now we can begin." She smiled mysteriously" I am Shai" she added.

"Where is this place?" he asked, wondering how far he will have to walk back to civilization.

"This is not a place, not one that could be reached by anybody at any time."

The woman was making no sense.

"What desert is that?" he changed the question, hoping he could learn his current geographical location.

"What dessert? There is no desert"

The woman was making him lose his patience. Grabbing her by the hand Wesker pulled her out into the garden and pointed at the sand dunes.

"Then explain this to me"

"All I see is flowers, but then again everybody sees different things .I cannot see what you see because what you see is a vision of your inner world. "

"What?"

"This oasis is real, but outside, oh, outside depends on the person whose walking it. One sees mountains, another a forest, people told they see many different things, but a desert, that's a place with no life in it. "

"What's so bad about that?"

"Nothing if you want to be the only living thing in an endless hell of heat and sand." Shai gave a disappointed sigh." It seems I have my work cut out for me."

"I am grateful for your help but must be on my way now."

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked

"I have business to take off , there are people looking for me. I need to get back to work"

"You still don't get, do you?" she laughed" You can't leave here."

"And who's going to stop me? You?"

He walked towards the approaching dunes and he was about to set his foot onto the sand when something pulled him back. He was where he stood just moments ago.

"Told you can't leave, not yet anyway. "

"Why can't I leave?"

"This place is not part of the world. It exists only here and now, when the times comes it will disappear. But right now it exists for you."

"When this place disappears, then I will be able to go back?"

"I depends"

"On what?"

"On you. "

Wesker was totally confused.

"Now let's have a look" she said smiling.

She pointed her finger to the pond and images appeared in its surface. It was an image of Wesker in a S.T.A.R.S. uniform. He recognized the place, it was the mansion on the night of the first outbreak he was talking to Birkin.

"You remember?" Shai looked at him" this is the night you betrayed your friends.

Wesker wanted to object, they were never his friends. He infiltrated the division hoping to use them in some way, the night of the mansion incident was the perfect occasion and he used it. But then he remembered sitting at his desk and watching his men fool around through the top of his newspaper, or when Chris won the shooting contest, Wesker felt proud, thou he never admitted it to anyone, they had a party to celebrate the win and took a photo- all of S.T.A.R.S. together.

Shaking his head he dismissed it. It meant nothing now, like the woman said he betrayed them, most of the members were dead now. And the surviving few dedicated their lives to making his a living hell.

The image in the pond change and he saw a woman in a hospital bed. She looked so much different that it took him some time recognize her.

"She loved you, you know" Shai spoke sadly.

He knew her once, while was the captain of the special unit, she loved him but he never returned the feeling.

"You abandoned her and you son"

Soon after the boy came into this world the mansion incident took place, Wesker became a traitor and abandoned his humanity, then he fled the city. After the Raccoon city incident he just assumed they both died.

"The boy loves his mother, to help pay her hospital bills he chose to become a mercenary. Now he is hunted by the world for having you genes."

Wesker gazed upon the present day image of his son. He did look a lot like his father. Jake was a man, a soldier, not the noisy baby he vaguely remembered.

"You betrayed those who cared for you, ruined lives of the innocent and gave up your humanity. So tell me are you happy? Did you get everything you wanted? "

"No" he surprised himself by saying that.

"What you mean no? After all the pain and betrayal, you still haven't have enough?

Chris got in his way, that was why. But he was only human, humans are weak, how could he lose to someone so weak? It wasn't Redfield after all. No, it was him. He lost because he didn't pay attention, he was too angry with Chris to notice the sign that the volcano was about to erupt, and the earthquakes are hard to miss. Damn it, he didn't notice the incoming helicopter until the last minute. He made too many mistakes.

"It's not like I can go back and do it all again" he said in self-defense.

"No you can't" Shai agreed" But you can chose what path to take. In another world there is another you, who lived a different life."

The pond was showing the other Wesker. He lived with his wife and son in a large country house. He led a special bio weapon counter group alongside former S.T.A.R.S members and his son. They were regarded as heroes saving the world from bio- terrorists.

"This is the life you could have had, if you made right choice." Shai pointed out." You can still make it.

"And if I don't?"

"Well then you will suffer for your mistakes."

"Haven't I already?"

"The volcano was just a little taste, real hell is a thousand times hotter" it almost seemed she laughed at the statement. " You have to make up your mind by the time this place disappears. If you don't, well, I hope you like deserts, because you will be stuck in one for the rest of eternity. Stuck between worlds."


	3. Chapter 3

Redemption

Chapter 3: The Shadow of Chernobyl

It has been three years since that day. The day Chris defeated Wesker, in truth the B.S.A.A. agent thought he would feel happier about the whole thing. But with nothing to do it was just boring. With the man gone they didn't have to deal with bioweapons and deadly viruses as often as before. After the incident in China everything calmed down. It's been a year since then, that's why when he received the news this morning Chris Redfield was surprised that it put it him into a bad mood.

He and a few others were to investigate a rumor that has been around for some time. Everyone was concerned with the crisis in Ukraine, but nobody expected the resistance to use B.O.W's. However there was no proof that they actually did it. Some claimed to have seen monsters in the streets, others claim to have seen dead soldiers rise up and attack the enemies. Investigations didn't reveal much, but one thing was clear, somebody sold something that closely resembled bioweapons to the resistance in Ukraine. With all the major companies that were involved in making B.O.W's taken out of the game, who was left to make viral weapons? Unlike before people didn't turn into zombies, there was no outbreak and after they appeared the weapons would vanish into thin air.

There was a strange rumor about a place known only as the Zone, the 60 km. area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Since the fourth reactor exploded in 1986, releasing deadly radiation across several countries, the nearby city of Pripyat as well as several surrounding villages and towns have been abandoned.

However around year 2000 rumors of strange vegetation and wild life began to circulate. Strange occurrences were spotted by the military stationed at the borders of this area. Mysterious solid substances referred to as artifacts could be found in some places. It was soon after all this the first outsiders entered the Zone. Referring to themselves as Stalkers they went into the Zone to search for artifacts and sell them to people outside the Zone. Despite the government attempts to stop them, the number of Stalkers increased. More and more people came to the Zone. Some in hopes to get rich, some to escape from the law, others in order to solve the mysteries surrounding it, and some seeking the mysterious Wish Granter.

Chris gave a loud sigh after reading the mission description. He didn't like it, not one bit. But he had to admit that a place like that was a good place to keep secrets. The Zone and everything about it was one big mystery. He should have been happy to get back into action, but something didn't feel right. He had a really bad feeling about this one. Just few night ago he had a strange dream.

It was dark and stormy, he was running in a field of tall dry grass. Then the grass set on fire from the lightning. As he ran he saw something in the distance, it looked like the outline of a power plant. Just then lightning flashed and he saw a dark figure blocking his path. Before he woke up he managed to see the face of the man, it was Wesker.

Chris knew it was impossible, still he suggested it to his superiors.

"You know better than anybody that Wesker is dead, you killed him! Besides if he was alive I don't think he would have waited three years to get back at you."

The agent knew it was the truth, but the feeling he got was real too. He shook it off, preparations needed to be made. The government of Ukraine kept the existence of the Zone top secret ,and only know to a few outside of it, as far as the rest of the world was concerned it was just a radioactive area that was closed off to the public for obvious reasons. Chris, Leon, and Jill will be entering the Zone disguised as stalkers. He " couldn't wait" for his first Russian class later in the afternoon.

* * *

It was dark, the rusted metal fence had warning signs all over it. On the other side was a plain dry field. The guard walked with a flashlight in one hand and his assault rifle in the other. Soaked to the bone by the chilling rain. He yawned, thinking about the long way back to the camp and cursing in Russian. A dark shadow dashed behind him, in a single jump it leaped over the fence and landed on the other side. The guard turned around, he saw nothing. Shaking his head he kept on walking.

A man in a black leather trench coat ran across the field. His face obscured by the wide hood , long black scarf flapping behind him. Lightning flashed. The sound of barking and howling could be heard. A pack of blind mutated dogs was out on a hunt. They picked up a sent. The man sensed them approaching. The growling was getting closer. Pulling out a silenced pistol he shot one in midair as the beast was about to jump him. The pack surrounded the corpse of dead dog and gave loud howl before sinking their teeth into the still warm flesh. The man continued to run. The storm was getting fierce- he needed to find shelter. There things much worse than dogs wandering under the rain.

(S.T.A.L.K.E.R. meets Resident Evil, somehow my brain turned this into a cross over, Wow, didn't see that coming . The game is really good, those who haven't played it really should play it. Those who have played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will know I'm not lying. )


	4. Chapter 4

Redemption

Chapter 4: Surviving in the Zone

He watched them run. Three of them, getting closer, finally, he was tired of waiting for them to show up. Suddenly one of them fell, there was no shot, no sound – something was wrong.

The trio was close to the rendezvous point when Sasha fell behind. He dropped his gun and stopped to pick it up that's when he heard it. Breathing, heavy loud right next to him he turned around but there was nothing there. Before he could move sharp claws pierced his armor, next blow cut the flesh. The other two turned around, Sasha was standing there one moment and then he collapsed, all covered in blood. They ran back to their comrade, he was dead.

"Shit" the man cursed.

Something moved in the grass, there was nobody in sight only the sound of heavy breathing.

"Bloodsuckers. This is not good, we have to go, now."

The two picked up Sasha's bag and gun, not like he will need them anymore. They ran towards the abandoned factory. But they didn't get far, the sound of breathing was right behind them.

"We will not get anywhere like this. There's at least two of them" Victor tossed his bag to the last member of the team." Go it will deal with these bloodsucking motherfuckers" Holding his gun he started shooting at random directions.

Sonja ran as fast as she could. They got careless, now they paid the price. There have never been any bloodsuckers in this area before. Looking back she saw Victor collapse and the creature finally becoming visible. Then she turned away and ran towards the destination.

He sat on an old box, hidden by the shadows and observed the scene outside. All of this started three days ago. At first he was planning to get to Pripyat on his own, since getting in was easy Wesker figured the rest won't be much difficult. Soon it turned out no one in the Cordon area knew anything about what he wanted to know. Since it was the very edge of the Zone most there were rookies who came there in hopes of grabbing some artifacts and getting out. They didn't know anything about the center of the Zone. Those who did know, wanted compensation.

Wesker ended up fighting a group of bandits, looking for a lost stalker, who turned up in a spring board anomaly very much dead, and clearing out the mutants from some old farm house. All that got him was some old legends that only caused more questions. Things like the Wish Granted and the Brain Scorcher. At first he was skeptical about all that and the mutants didn't seem that tough. Blind dogs, mutated pigs and wild boars.

After making his way to the garbage he began to seriously reconsider the whole idea. The navigation devices he brought with him proved to be worthless. Giant mountains of radioactive junk and strange magnetic fields surrounding it ,quickly made him lose his way. After spending the night outside with no people around for miles he realized he will need help getting to Pripyat. The nights were much worse than the day. As soon as he got to the garbage his compass started pointing at some random direction, but Wesker didn't notice, not at first. He made a wrong turn and got into a fight a bandit group. Getting away wasn't easy even when they only had pistols, there were too many of them. Out of the pan and into an electro anomaly. Just when he thought he would be safe in the forest his path was blocked by the blue electric waves in the ground. A flesh ran into the thing scared by Wesker's sudden appearance, and the anomaly went boom, the pig mutant was dead.

Even with superior reflexes he didn't want to take his chances. Things just weren't the same after the swim in the volcano. With no other choice left he walked along the edge of the anomaly until it ended. It lead to a dead end. In front was nothing but a giant pile of trash, that emitted ration strong enough to kill a man in five minutes if he tried to climb it. It was alright as long you stayed on the safe side of the barrier- a line of signs with radiation warnings.

By the time he got around the pile of garbage it had gotten dark. A storm was beginning. There were no buildings in sight, nothing that could be used as shelter. After wandering around for what seemed like hours he found a bus. It was broken and rusted the windows were broken but it was better than nothing. Squeezing through the broken door he lied down on the back seat waiting for morning. That night he didn't get any sleep. The sounds kept him awake. At first he only hear the thunder but then gunshots and an explosion, people screaming somewhere not far away. Dogs and mutated wolves howling, and pigs moving around, but also something he never heard before. A growl, that almost seemed human it was moving near the bus. It was too dark too see what it was but it moved around and several times. Also the loud meowing, as if a cat was there but too different from a house cat.

He wondered around asking for anyone who would take him to Pripyat but everybody seemed reluctant to go there, not even for money. They all said it was too dangerous, no safe path was yet discovered. Finally he caught wind of a person who made it there and back several times, however they were hard to find. All he had was name written in Russian.

Finally he made it to the "100 Rad" bar. After shoving the note for what could have been the thousandth time the man pointed him to a person at the back of the bar. That person turned out to be a girl.

"Sure, I can take you to where you want to go" the girl spoke English well, probably one of the few there who actually knew any other language." But right now I have another job, you will have to wait three days. I will take you then- if I'm still alive."

The girl left the bar with a group of men in black stalker suits and gas masks. This was how he met Sonja. She was in her early twenties but was regarded by many as an elite stalker and guide to difficult to reach places. Rumors had it she was doing a big job for scientists in Yantar.

Three days was a lot of time, Wesker took good used of it. Most people didn't like to talk to talk about the mysterious happenings in the Zone but once you got them enough vodka and got them alone things could go a different way.

Most of the things he heard him, it seemed to be some kind of code but he didn't ask too much, afraid to cause suspicion. But he learned enough to get a good feel on how things were around here and why nobody wanted to go to Pripyat.

Because of the Brain Scorcher it was impossible before, anybody who got near would get their brain fried and turn into zombie like creatures with only small traces of humanity left. But about a year ago some crazy guy got a special thingy from the scientists and went into the lab under the Scorcher and turned it off. But that didn't make it safe. There is a legend about the black crystal. The Monolith- the Wish Granter that exists inside the Chernobyl NPP. A group of fanatics who worship the Monolith kill anyone who comes close to it. The Monolith group is a strong military organization with religious fanaticism and high tech gear as their weapons. Pripyat has been their stronghold for many years, they somehow managed to resist the effects of the Scorcher. This was indeed a dangerous quest.

Sonja stood before him in the light of the dim afternoon sun.

"Here is a five day supply of food ammo and everything else you might need" she threw a bag pack at him" let go."


	5. Chapter 5

Sin

Wesker looked at the woman standing in front of him. She was tall for a woman. Dressed in a military suit. Her ginger hair tied back into a pony tail. " Ok let's go" she said tossing him a heavy bag. " We need to hurry. There are bloodsuckers out there!" They left through the back of the building, walking fast and silent. After some time they stopped , Sonja took out her binoculars. "This is bad" she said with a strong Russian accent" we can't go this way"

They stood on a hill looking at a flooded meadow. The water seemed to go on forever. It was only knee deep but something flashed in it. "Beep" said the anomaly detector as they approached. "No good. It's full of electro anomalies. We will die if we enter the water." She seemed to be thinking of what to do next. " I said I will get you to Pripyat and I will" the red head reassured" There might be another way, but it will dangerous." "More dangerous than swimming in water full electro anomalies?" he raised an eyebrow. " It's getting dark, we should hurry."

Chris sat on his bed at the military HQ. There was no way of getting to Pripyat so far. Flying was out the question, the helicopters would go haywire the moment they approached the city. Some kinds of magnetic field made them lose control. There was no safe way to walk there. Most people didn't even want to talk about it. All kinds of crazy rumors went around about the place. It didn't make their mission easy. The military were going to gather a large force and try to break through the monolith forces in Red Forest. But preparations were going slow. The waiting was driving him crazy. If only they could get a hold of one of those so called guides, things would go along much faster he was certain. There were rumors about those who went north and came back alive, the legendary few who went to the center of the zone. He was interrupted when Jill knocked on his door. "What is it?" she seemed too happy, something was up" Good new, we found somebody who will takes us to the center." "Who is it?" "You'll see".

The sun has set. The wilderness has come alive with nocturnal creatures. The howling of wild dogs could be heard all over. Sonja walked first leading the way. Something rustled in the bushes nearby. Both of them froze in their tracks. A pig squealed. Sonja relaxed, but then a loud roar was heard. " Run!" they both ran, Wesker was faster than her but he kept his speed to a human level, she was his only way to get to Pripyat, he didn't want to scare her off. A huge shadow dashed from the bushes, something was chasing them , something fast. "Here, Hurry" Sonja pointed to what looked like a military car. It was still operational. She tried to connect the vires to get it started. There wasn't enough time. He pulled out his gun and shot at the thing chasing them as it leaped high into the air and was about to land on Wesker. The bullet hit and knocked the creature off course. Sonja started the car." Get in". She drove off at high speed. "Nice shot" the woman complimented. "Just lucky" he replied. Wesker could see in the dark just like a cat and with his advanced reflexes there was no way he could miss such an easy target but he couldn't let her know he wasn't exactly human. He knew he could take on whatever came his way but something stopped him revealing his secret to others. A rumor, he heard from a drunken stalker about the group of dark stalkers that attack other stalkers and supposedly have powers. They are considered extremely dangerous and are to be killed on sight.

Chris followed Jill outside, the heavy metal door of the bunker opened and they went into the night air. Something was wrong. The fire was burning but the military guys who were sitting around it before were all on the ground and seemed to be asleep. There were no visible wounds on them. "Jill what is going on here? " She looked at Chris with a confused expression, "Everything was fine just moments ago" . Leon came running into the camp with his gun out" What happened here? "Both asked him at once. " Some guy in black" said Leon gasping for breath, " the military guys caught him sneaking around. Before they could question that bastard sent them flying into the air and vanished" "Vanished?" Jill couldn't believe one man did this "He killed the guide too." Leon added " Well that's just great" Chris kicked the metal barrel beside the bunker. " I tried to look for him around the camp but I found nothing, the guy literally just disappeared." Leon sat down by the fire and picked up an abandoned bottle of vodka. Jill went to try and wake up one of the soldiers. "Chris, he isn't breathing" she said. They checked all the bodies in the camp, they were dead, with no visible wounds. "Holly shit," Leon cursed." Twelve people dead, done in by one guy, who didn't even have a gun on him." Jill still couldn't believe it. "Who could do something like this? And how?" Chris thought back on his dream" I know someone who could do it" "For the last time, Chris, Wesker is dead." Jill said angrily. "Well maybe there is someone else with the same kinds of power" he said feeling frustrated. "We can't stay here, he might come back." He left them to go packing but it was more an excuse to get away from his comrades.

"God, I hate this place" Chris thought to himself sitting on his bed in the bunker. Monolith, mutants, stalkers, the wish granter, the possibility that there was somebody with the same power as Wesker it all drove him crazy. He thought he had seen everything, but this place was different from all he knew. This place was no created by a man made virus, it wasn't an outbreak zone where people turned into the undead, no it was something a lot more terrifying in a completely different way. And then there were the dreams, a voice in his head calling him an the image of a city, the reactor and a black obsidian like crystal. A voice called his name over and over in that dream. He didn't want to scared the others so kept silent about it, but the longer they stayed in this place the more is scared him. It felt like the Zone was alive in some way, like it could think.

Later that night when Leon and Jill were asleep he went outside answer a call on nature. It was dark but the dawn was close. The fire was still burning but was much smaller. The dead soldiers were now buried, Leon and Jill saw to that. Chris had just unzipped his pants when he felt a knife to his throat. "if you want to live, do as I say" a voice hissed from behind. Chris threw himself back hopping to knock out the attacker but he fell on the grass, there was no one behind him, but he could have sworn there was somebody there. "Bring the metal case from the mercenaries in Dark Valley to the Mines near the old road and I will tell you how to get to Pripyat, refuse and you and your friends die." The seemed to be coming from everywhere. "Can't you get them yourself?" Chris spat and suddenly he felt a crushing grip on his throat, an invisible force rose him from the ground. He saw a figure in a black trench coat standing in the shadows near the fence. Chris pulled out his gun and shot at the direction but the man vanished and then repapered on the left. With a move of his hand he had the B.S. A.A. agent flung through the air to the nearest tree. Now he was almost sure that this the same man who killed all the soldiers. "All right, I'll do it" he said caching his breath from the choking grip. "Just who are you?" the man laughed and as he began to disappear" We are Sin"


	6. Chapter 6

6\. On the Road

The car ran out of gas . It was to be expected, there were no working gas stations in the zone. Sonja led them into a small house away from the road. "Travel at night –very dangerous, best not to try without a car. Especially in this area. We'll stay here till morning." She went into the house, and then began climbing the ladder up to the small attic. Once he was up she pulled the ladder up. The girl was right asleep in her sleeping bag; Albert didn't feel like sleeping, he listened to the night sounds, thinking about what he had learned so far. There were many rumors and little facts; the only thing he knew for a fact was anything was possible here. Many years ago back in the Umbrella days, a colleague of his and a few other scientists went around bragging about a job offer to work in Ukraine. Nobody paid attention to them, as if Umbrella would just let it's scientists go work for someone else. When the raid team that was supposed to stop them got to their homes, no one was there, all the belongings and documents were still there but the people were gone. A man hunt began, but they found nothing, they never heard from them again, five scientists vanished into the air right under their noses. There were no traces of them leaving the country, they never returned home, either, their families had gone missing as well. After a year of searching they were declared dead. The whole incident was forgotten. However when he was digging for info on the five recently Wesker found something strange. Almost six years after one of them was declared dead a large sum of money got transferred into his bank account. When he tried to find the one who sent the money he came up empty, but learned one small detail: the transfer was made from somewhere in Ukraine. A coincidence? After seeing this place he didn't think so. It wasn't the T-virus, but something else, maybe even more dangerous, that was being done here. Not for a second did he believe that all the and anomalies were simply natural mutations created by the radiation without human interference.

When morning came they set out again. It was bright and the mutants that walked around at night were now sleeping. It had been a day since they left towards Pripyat but his guide said nothing about this alternative route. Wesker didn't trust anyone but he did not want to suspect his guide was someone who would lead him far away and kill him for money. He didn't trust her, no, not completely , he could never trust somebody like Chris did ,but he needed her to show him the way. "Where exactly are we going?" he asked the red head. The girl didn't hesitate when answering " Dead City, recently some guys I know found something near there that might turn out be a path to Pripyat, then again it might be something else."

They walked for a long time only stopping to rest once. It was afternoon when they reached the abandoned town. Five and four story concrete buildings stood there in the light of the cloudy day with broken windows. A bit further was a district of what seemed like small private houses. They walked past them and turned towards what seemed like a warehouse but could have been anything. Men in military suits walked out of the building and gave the two of them unpleasant looks. Sonja said something to them in Russian. One of the men pointed the tip of his gun to a nearby building. She thanked him turned to "Wesker let's go." In a two story apartment building they found three men in black suits, Duty from the looks of it, sitting on the stairs with a bottle of vodka. "Sonja" one of the men stood up "good to see you. Care to join us?" "No, not this time. I' m here on business" "What you need?" the other man sitting closed to her asked" A way to get to Pripyat. The usual route is unusable. The last storm flooded the fields and what's worse – the water full of electric anomalies, besides that, bloodsuckers moved into the factory area." The three men looked at each other "This is really bad. Ok We'll help. "

They spent at least an hour discussing the details of how to do it. "You already know about the lab in Yantar and the one in the Red forest, right" the man called Nicolai said "Recently we found something that we thought was a bunker." "Turns out it was actually an underground transport tunnel connecting the two. " Alexei explained "the section connecting to Yantar has caved in, we don't know if the other section is good to cross, we caught a bandit sneaking around so we sent him, to investigate the bastard never came back. I doubt he is still alive." "Something must have gotten to him" Sonja agreed" the labs are always dangerous; there is always something there, something you don't often see in the zone." "It will take us time to prepare, but we should be ready by nightfall"

They stayed in the building to wait for the men to return. It was likely to take a while, just sitting and waiting for hours seemed dull, so Wesker decided to start a conversation." Are we going into some kind of research facility? Just what kind of laboratories a place like this has? "Sonja looked at him for a bit saying nothing " It is not my place to say" she answered " Most people , like the mercs. and majority of the stalkers came here to get rich, others to hide from the law, like the bandits, soldiers came here because there were given orders from the government, scientist are here to study the one. Let me ask you, why did you come here? What do you hope to find in the center of the zone?" He knew it, she was suspecting something, none the less he needed to answer without causing more suspicions. " I have seen things in my life, but nothing quite like the zone, I was skeptical when I heard of this place but when I came here , I'm not sure what to think. To put it simply to me this place is like a mystery wrapped inside an enigma, one would very much like to solve." The young woman sighed " So you came here looking for truth. Then let me give some advice: the zone does not open it's secret to just anyone, the zone will test them and only the worthy will get chosen. " "What do you mean by "chosen"?" "Many who came here die within the first 24 hours here, never making it this far. I have been here in the zone for five years, during that time I saw many people die, people who were strong, people that I knew. We traveled into danger together, but it was always me left alive in the end. I don't know why , but by some miracle I was spared, always just me. " "I see.." he said" he said" it must be hard ." "I've gotten used to it over the years" she replied " I feel like there is something here I have to do, something that only I can do… I can't explain it but I had this feeling ever since I came here."

The Duty men returned with some supplies and a car. They drove out into the fields outside, it was night and almost impossible to see where they were going. Then they stopped, carrying supplies and flash lights they went to a hill. There was a an opening in its side, it looked man made, there was something metal inserted into it , probably for ventilation, a rope was tied to a nearby branch going down into the opening. " There it is " Alexei pointed " Ok I'm going first" he squeezed into the gap and vanished. The rope moved some time later three times. " That's the signal- he's down" Nicolai exclaimed. They tied their bags to the rope and lowered them down one at a time, then started descending into the gap.

* * *

I know it has been a long time, Sorry for that, but a lot of things happened. But it's all cleared up now I will resume working on this fic now, as much as my studies allow me to.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 "Nightmares"

Chris sat there thinking. The man in black demanded he brought him something from the mercenaries but how could he know for sure that he will keep the promise to take them to Pripyat? In any case the American didn't have much time. Normally he would have discussed it with his partner but ever since the trio came here there was tension between them. Chris started having nightmare, about the zone and the black crystal but also about raccoon city and his past encounters. He couldn't sleep properly, he felt tired and scared inside, it confused him, as well as angered him. The zone was not created by an outbreak, that much he understood: the mutants, the anomalies, and Sin. This was not the work of someone from umbrella, this was not the T-virus or any virus they had been developing, maybe this was not the work of a virus at all. In any case, it seemed that the ruined city of Pripyat held the answers. He made up his mind. The B.S.A.A agent unfolded a pack of cigarettes and wrote a note with the soot from the camp fire. "Gone to find new guide. Be back by nightfall. C.R."

Jill was the one who found the note. "It's not like him to just leave" she told Leon. "Should we go after him?" he asked. "We have no idea where he went." "You think he will find someone willing to take us there?" the former police man asked." I don't know" she was silent for a while, then sighed" What is it?" the blond man asked "I don't know, this place is just making me feel weird." " The nightmares" "How do you…? You have them too?" "Ahuh" he admitted "I see, so Chris probably does as well". "It's like this place is messing with our heads, I don't like it" Leon stated. "Well one thing is for sure" he added" this place has nothing to do with umbrella. The dead don't come back, and the ones who get hurt don't get infected by anything. Whatever is behind this- it's not a virus." Jill nodded in agreement " Which leaves us with the question- what is really going on here?" "I think I know where we can get some answers" Leon said," Let's go to Yantar, the scientist there might have some answers. Don't worry we'll be back before Chris does.

They took one of the military cars from the camp and left. During the ride Leon told her some rumors he heard from the stalkers. Outside of Pripyat under an old factory was the brain scorcher , but under the factory in Yantar, in a secret lab was something similar only much smaller and less powerful. Anyone who got close to one of these would start to act like a zombie, losing all signs of intelligence, walking around aimlessly and attacking people who approach, but all those "zombie" were still alive not undead. "Hints why they call it the brain scorcher" Leon said " get too close and your brain will get fried."" Interesting" said Jill " someone did manage to get close to it and disable it, right?" "Yeah, a while back. Or so I heard, and guess what was under the factory… an underground lab" "Why am I not surprised" she said. "Someone was doing secret experiments here. " Yeah, but it doesn't look like Umbrella was involved here" Leon said" people got attacked by mutants and even killed by them but never returned as monsters. So whatever is going on here is most likely not related to viruses and those things roaming around are not B.O.W.'s" "But that means that the B.S.A.A. has nothing to do here" Jill said. He stopped the car and got out" come here, something I want to show you" he walked to a white "Niva Lada" standing on the side of the road. the car was abandoned there so she guessed it was out of fuel but the car lights were still on. Leon lifted the hood of the car and Jill gasped in shock- there was no engine inside, most of the parts were removed, probably sold by stalkers or bandits. "How?" she couldn't' believe it . "It's some kind of an anomaly, all the electronics are "frozen in time" the computers from the 80's still work with no maintenance , and the lights are still on in some houses even when the storms broke the power cables. You can't say there is nothing for us to do here, besides there is still the question of who sold those B.O.W's to the rebels"

Jill was scared, more than she had ever been in her life, this place defied common logic and even the laws of physics. They got back into the vehicle. "You're being awfully silent" Leon noted after a while. "This place scares me" she admitted "it's like something out of another world. Even after everything I've seen , I can't get used to this place." "Yeah, I know" he said" and I got this feeling like something is watching us, it really doesn't help.

They arrived at Yantar but the scientist there was not the same one who was there when the lab under the factory was found so he didn't know much. But he confirmed there was a secret lab doing mind control experiments under the factory. He also talked about several other being found throughout the Zone. However none of them shoved signs of research on any virus but there was research into things like cloning, mind control, even time travel and teleportation. After the Chernobyl incident there was a belief that the power plant was a fake and that there was a secret nuclear missile construction facility under the NPP, so the reactor exploding was really not the reactor but a nuclear missile. But the whole things was covered up so and that cause even more suspicion. This was a common belief back in the days, but now it wasn't as important and because of the monolith no one could get close the NPP and confirm it.

Chris made his way to Dark Valley. It took him a while to locate the mercenaries. By the time he found them, their base was under attack by bandits. As it turns out the mercs killed the bandits and took over their base, not the bandits returned and decided to take revenge for their friends. It was a mess. Somehow Chris managed to sneak inside unnoticed since most of the mercs were out in the front; he used the side entrance to get behind their backs. It took some time to search the building for the metal case. The man who had it was dead in the top floor, someone sniped him thought the window. He wasn't sure how to feel about the whole thing, he killed mutants and B.O.W's but now he faced people. The last thing he wanted was to kill another human being and somehow he made it his far without having to kill but it didn't make him feel lucky. Getting the case he ran towards the stairs to the roof, it seemed like the fastest way out. The gunshots had gone silent and he assumed that whichever group won would now be coming into the building. He used the fire escape ladder to get down into the inner yard. He noticed a hole in the fence- a way out. The he heard some shouting in Russian he got noticed. Chris ran for his life, a rain of bullets all around him. He got grazed in his arm and leg but he didn't get hit. Now all that was left was to find out where the mines were and find Sin.

It was night time, way past midnight by the time Chris got back to the camp. After being chased by wild dogs and a merc helicopter he made it to the mines. All that got him was a PDA that supposedly contained a map with a safe path marked on it. Leon was still awake" You look like shit, what happened?" "Don't even ask" Chris replied, just wanting to go to bed.


	8. Chapter 8

8\. The path of Redemption

Two years ago ( a month after the events in Africa)

Wesker sat on the black leather sofa in his new apartment in Australia. He needed to keep a low profile , even if the B.S.A.A. thought he was dead, Albert still needed to be careful; after all he was a wanted bio terrorist until just five weeks ago. Australia was a good hiding spot. There was no conflict going on at the moment, it had no ties to Umbrella, no reason for the B.S.A.A. to come here.

After he woke up in a small village hospital in Africa, and it came as surprise, he had some burns but they were healing. He knew the virus he created had great potential, but he got shot with a rocket launcher, blasted under the lava of an erupting volcano and sank to the bottom of the said volcano while his flesh was melting faster than he could heal, somehow, despite all that he was still alive. He acted confused and pretended to have lost his memory when the doctors questioned him about how he ended up in the state he was in. What he learned was that some fisherman caught his body in the river with severe burns and brought him here. He was unconscious for three weeks. Inside Wesker was laughing – he had achieved true perfection, true immortality- the kind that even Lisa Trevor could not achieve. He did remember having strange dreams while unconscious but he dismissed them as nothing important. He left the hospital since most of his burns had healed and the minor ones that were left were closing fast. During his of working for Umbrella and other organizations he had built up quite a lot of wealth. He had several fake identities and bank accounts under those identities. Getting out of Africa was rather easy , once he got to a city big enough to have a bank.

The decision to come to Australia was based on more than it being just a good hiding spot. He had to do some digging and trespassing into dangerous territory but he managed to get back some of the date he used to create Uroboros. Australia wasn't involved in any military conflicts but that didn't mean he couldn't find companies interested in the virus. He had every intention of continuing what he started in Africa. So now he was sitting in his luxurious apartment looking up a list of potential "allies". Suddenly a sharp pain ran through him. He saw flames rising up his body . all of it lasted for less than a moment. Wesker sat there feeling cold sweat run down his back too afraid to move in case the pain hit again. Seconds passed and nothing happened , he dismissed it as some sort of hallucination. It was past midnight now, so the man decided to postpone his plans until morning. He closed his laptop and put back on the coffee table then went to get ready for bed.

He did not recall falling asleep, so when he heard the sound of footsteps in the hall outside of his room he got up to investigate. Wesker was determined to give the burglar a lesson he would never forget. When he tried to turn on the lights nothing happened , the hall remained dark. A figure was moving in the shadows. " Who's there " he called but no one answered. He jumped forward trying to punch the figure but his hand went straight through it doing no damage. The figure than turned around and Wesker saw it was Barry, a horrible, mutilated, undead version of Barry. Before he could get over his surprise Barry turned into Rebecca, then into Jill and she turned into Chris. The person kept changing, demonic versions of the people knew, betrayed and killed. Now he was faced by Excella. " You haven't forgotten about us, have you, Albert?" suddenly she burst into flames and reached her hand towards him. Wesker backed away but he hit a wall. He pushed the burning figure and it fell to the floor turning to ash but then the floor was on fire and he was surrounded by it. Now Wesker was burning . the floor beneath his feet burnt away and he fell into darkness. It was like drowning in the volcano all over again. " Not again" he felt fear rising at the thought of having to endure the pain all over again, fear that this time he might not survive and fear of what would happen if he didn't die, fear that there was no way out of this burning.

Wesker sat up in his bed screaming. It was still dark but red could be seen in the sky through the gap in the curtains. "A dream?" he touched his shoulder to make sure, but his skin was ice cold. " Just a dream" he started to calm down. Giving up on sleep he went to the shower.

Dressed in his white bathrobe with a cup of black coffee he sat down and picked up his laptop intending to continue his plans to get funding for Uroboros renewal, the moment he opened his laptop he saw flames and a dark figure reflected in the screen. The image was there one moment and was gone the next, the screen was black. "This can't be real; Am I losing my mind?"

The nightmares didn't stop for a while. Even when he was awake , Wesker was still plagued by horrid visions of fire and death. After a month of it he finally abandoned his plans to continue the Uroboros project and then when he had given up hope of ever getting rid of them, they stopped. He couldn't believe it at first , but it was also obvious." It wasn't all just a dream" it finally dawned on him. The woman and the oasis in the desert – it was all real. " Then that means that I will suffer the fate of burning forever unless I do something "good"" For the first in his life he was at a loss of what to do. All his life the only person he cared for, the only person did everything for was himself. He used people and betrayed them , he lied and deceived and killed all for his personal gain. Now he had to do something for others or face a fate worse than death . Albert Wesker was a man who always valued self-preservation, he would stay alive no matter what.


End file.
